Random ramblings and observations

Working on the New Me

That’s right! This time there is no slacking off, no procrastinating and no giving up. Three weeks ago I took the plunge and started following a fantastic weight lifting program called Stronglifts 5×5 in order to shatter my attitude towards myself and my lack of dedication to a fitness regime. The idea of this program is to do a variation of 5 lifting exercises every other day, 5 reps of each exercise and every set increases in weight by 5lbs – except deadlifts, which go up by 10lbs. For this program I am working on squats, bench, row, overhead press and deadlifts.

Start to current day (ignore weight at bottom – I haven’t been recording it yet!)

Three weeks ago I could vaguely managed to squat with just a lifting bar on my shoulders – the bar itself weighs 45 lbs. Yesterday I squatted 70 lbs and felt great! My overhead press is my best achievement though; I couldn’t lift the bar above my head without my husband helping me out – the weakest shoulders you’ve ever seen! Yesterday I lifted 50lbs above my head without any assistance and I felt unbelieveable. My husband just watched with a smile on his face as I owned the bar!

I am doing this program for many reasons: the first is to prove to myself that I can actually stick to a health regime and not wimp out of it because it’s hard. The second reason is to become a stronger person, both physically and mentally. I have always hated the way I looked and now I am sculpting a body I am happy with and that feeling alone is almost intoxicating.

Slowly, slowly, buildy muscley!

During a therapy session a few weeks back I was asked what I thought of myself and I broke down in tears as I explained how much I disliked who I was and how I looked. I have zero confidence in myself to achieve anything in life and I am my own worst enemy. I was made to really look at myself and what I saw was not a very happy individual so I made the conscious decision to try and better myself, starting with my health. My target is to always progress, not perfect, because I don’t feel that is a realistic end goal. I just want to make myself happier and I honestly feel I am starting to get there, with the always positive help and guidance from my powerlifting powerhouse husband! Now his muscles are seriously impressive…